


Taking Shape

by MalthusIndex



Series: Cephalon Malthus (Old Canon/Version) [2]
Category: Warframe
Genre: Gen, One Shot, Wholesome
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-11
Updated: 2020-01-11
Packaged: 2021-02-27 12:02:19
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,862
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22216732
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MalthusIndex/pseuds/MalthusIndex
Summary: Cephalon Suda tries to help Cephalon Malthus learn how to change his shape and colour.
Series: Cephalon Malthus (Old Canon/Version) [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1599184
Comments: 5
Kudos: 14





	Taking Shape

Suda had been helping her little therapist friend adjust to life in the weave, now that he had free time to spend with her. Moving around had been the first step, which he’d done fairly well – not counting a few bumps and bashes when he overshot something – but all things considered, he was still far from fully-versed in being a Cephalon. In fact, he was almost like a lost child in some ways, especially when he encountered something that she and Simaris could do in a metaphorical heartbeat.

Right now, they were focusing on his visual form – for most of his time spent on this Relay, he had either been contained inside a makeshift ‘body’ that was essentially a bucket full of wires and scrap, or representing himself and a shapeless pile of glowing particles and dust. There was nothing _wrong_ with that, but it was more acceptable to have a consistent form, especially since he needed to interact with Tenno on a daily basis.

So far, it hadn’t gone very well.

“Malthus, I’ll try to explain it again in a… more digestible way. Do you understand how you’re supposed to do this?”

“Not really, no…”

He _had_ actually managed to briefly change his form, only for it to collapse again once he started concentrating. Any Cephalon could maintain a form purely by wanting to, but being able to maintain it _without_ having to consciously focus on it was the key part he still had to learn.

“Alright. Try to copy my form again, if you can.”

She watched as Malthus fell silent for a few seconds, his shapeless body starting to twist in on itself as each particle reformed. It took him quite a while to actually re-create what she looked like, and it wasn’t all correct: the central cube of her ‘eye’ was rounded at the corners, rather than sharp, and they didn’t have the exact shade of blue that she was used to.

“I did it! I think? Did I do it?”

Suda didn’t really ever laugh or chuckle, but there was a certain… warmth to watching Malthus’ progress. He got excited over being able to do things that most Cephalons, even Corpus-made knock-offs, could handle with barely even a thought.

“Very close. Much better than the first time you tried.”

He was so caught up in feeling proud of himself that the form collapsed again, returning him back to the glowing mass that he usually appeared to be. Suda heard him let out a quiet, disappointment groan once he noticed that he’d once again failed to actually maintain it for longer than one or two sentences.

She had only known Malthus for about two months, but they’d already been through quite a lot together. That didn’t have much significance in practical terms, but she would be lying if she didn’t care for him. After all, she _had_ reclaimed him from that quasi-illegal Perrin Sequence plan to create a paid therapy surface about a month prior, so it was clear to both to them that their relationship wasn’t strictly business-focused.

“Alright, Malthus, let’s try something else. What’s your favourite shape?”

“A shape? What kind of shape?”

“Anything! I would recommend something simple to start with, though.”

“Hmm… would a square work?”

There was something very childlike about him sometimes. Of course, he was a full-blown adult, just like all of them, and she had no doubts that he was just as capable of violent, romantic or otherwise very ‘conventionally adult’ acts if he needed to be. He simply struggled with controlling a lot of his functions outside of holding conversations, and needed a lot of practice before he’d get anywhere close to her level of skill.

“A square is two-dimensional, Malthus. I believe you would want to use a cube.”

“Oh! Yes, right, of course… a cube, that’s what I meant…”

“Go ahead, then. Try to make yourself into a cube.”

She watched as his form began to reconstruct itself again, each individual piece of the ever-changing mass taking up position. Then, without warning, it fell apart mid-creation.

“I don’t think I can do it, Suda…”

“Just try.”

He went silent again, clearly putting all of his focus towards making himself into a cube. The form collapsed once more, slowly taking shape into a box only a foot and a half across on each side – smaller than she had expected. Then again, it fit his personality really well. The moment it finished, and he fully took on the form of a simple grey cube, he started to spin in place.

“I did it! I think!”

“You are, Malthus! You’re a cube. A cube with no colour, but still a cube.”

“Colour? I can change that?”

Suda chuckled – a rarity from her, and generally something she only did for another person’s benefit. Here, she felt like her friend had earned some positivity. “Of course you can. Just pick something from the colour spectrum and try to apply it to yourself. Watch, I’ll show you.”

Pulling back slightly to give herself more space, Suda took a moment to focus her thoughts and imagined her body sifting shades, going from a light blue to a faint green, then a deep khaki, through to yellow, and then finally orange. Although she couldn’t physically see herself, she knew from her datascape alone that she had changed: her eye-like body had become a bright, almost Simaris-like colour that stood out from the muted greys and blues of everything around her.

“See? It should be quite easy.” Not wanting to upset her Syndicate – or, even worse, make Simaris lose his mind over being ‘copied’ – she let herself return back to her normal, distinctive blue. “Try to imagine yourself _as_ a certain colour that you like.”

“Would pink be a good idea?”

“Absolutely. But why pink? Don’t most cultures consider that a… feminine choice?” She wasn’t mocking him, she was genuinely curious to see why he’d chosen that one specifically.

“So? I don’t care if it’s feminine. I want to try being a pink cube.”

Well, she couldn’t fault him on that. Perhaps it would suit him: most Cephalons preferred more complex forms, and even Ordis himself had chosen to add detail with the small crack, the spinning central eye and the small lights that jutted out around him. But something about Malthus felt very relaxed, perhaps because of his deeper connection to emotions, being a therapist. Simplicity wasn’t necessarily a bad thing.

Malthus had started to try and shift colours, although he still looked very grey with only a vague red tint underneath. He was clearly trying really hard, but something was going wrong.

“No, no, Malthus. Don’t _force_ yourself to be a colour. Relax, and believe that you _are_ that colour.”

“What do you mean? I just pretend and then it happens?”

“…I suppose so, yes.” That was definitely one way to put it, although not… entirely accurate.

The little cube was starting to destabilise as his mind relaxed, stuck halfway between the three-dimensional form and his regular, unregulated mess of floating visuals. However, as he shifted colours and started to get closer to something you could actually call ‘pink’, he began to reform faster, piecing himself together in ways that suggested it was taking less effort.

“I think I’m doing it, Suda…”

“You are. Don’t think too much about it. Relax.”

She heard Malthus sigh as he presumably forced his mind to calm down and dedicate itself towards becoming a new colour while also maintaining his chosen form. He seemed to be doing it really well, although it could fall apart at any moment.

And then, **Simaris** decided to pop in.

“Suda! The Sanctuary needs your research on the new Grineer crewsh- oh, Malthus. I had assumed you would be back in your Relay room, with your Tenno.”

The therapist replied, breaking his concentration and making his cubic form begin to turn fuzzy. “Simaris, I’m preoccupied with something at the moment…”

“I can see that. Suda is the one I need to speak to, continue whatever you are doing.”

Before she could respond, she noticed that Malthus – now apparently staring at Simaris – hadn’t actually reverted back to his original form, and was still a mostly-pink cube. “Malthus, are you still trying to maintain that shape and colour?”

“What? No, not since Simaris arrived. Why?”

“Because you’re a cube. And you’re pink.”

It was like somebody had just told the little Cephalon that he had won a billion credits on one of Darvo’s rigged raffles. For a few moments, he said nothing over than looking down in an effort to see his own body – which he couldn’t, since the entire thing would always turn _with_ him, then started looking up at Suda and swaying gently from side to side.

“I did it! I’m a pink cube! I don’t really know… _how_ I did it, but I did it!”

Simaris moaned in a mixture of confusion and irritation, quietly slipping his way out of the datascape. Suda found _that_ , combined with Malthus’ incredible joy over one of the most basic actions as Cephalon could perform, incredibly amusing, and dropped her serious tone for a while.

“Good work! I’m impressed. You’ve really improved a lot since you left that derelict vault. Now, how about we work on creating a better form for you, one that’s very unique like mine?”

The small cube looked around for a moment, as if getting used to his new body. “Does it… _need_ to be more complicated?”

“Well, you don’t want to be mistaken for another Cephalon. Ordis is still a cube, but turned sideways and given some extra details. Your form is the reason that Tenno recognise you. If you would like to base it on something simple, that is entirely your choice, but it should still end up as a unique design if possible.”

“What if I add a ball?”

“A… ball?”

Malthus turned away and tipped downwards – relative to his normal positon, anyway – as if he was trying to ignore any distractions around him. Slowly, some of the particles inside him began to shift, dragging themselves around the interior of his cuboid self and slowly creating a sphere. Or, as he had put it, a ball. It was exactly the same colour as the exterior, and didn’t quite touch the edges of the cube, as if it was suspended in the exact centre.

“Ta-da! What do you think? Does it look good?”

Suda tilted her head, looking at him from a slightly different angle. “It’s very… _pink_. Do you want to try adding some more colour, or changing the colour completely? It could be harmful to the eyes of organic beings, if you make it too bright…”

“I like it a lot! I think it suits me.”

“If you like it, then I suppose it does.”

“Pink is a cool colour.”

“If you say so, Malthus. Do you want to try creating a datascape next? I can set up a ‘sandbox’ for you to try without permanently affecting your own.”

Instead of saying yes, the pink cube nodded at her.

She had to admit – _that was kind of cute_.


End file.
